Ho Yapp Meng. Picture: BT/Goh De No
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Ho Yapp Meng, Mei Kong Café
BUSINESS activities in Bandar have dwindled over the years with new commercial areas like Gadong, Kiulap and Serusop emerging.
Ho Yapp Meng, owner of Mei Kong Cafe in the middle of town, has seen the town evolve since almost 60 years ago.
Meng’s café is open 365 days a year from wee hours in the morning until the town quiets down past office hours and has seen the good and the bad times pass.
He speaks to The Brunei Times about his experience in Bandar and what he hopes would happen to help revive the area.
BT: What are the main hurdles faced by businesses in the town centre in recent years?
There are a few. The two major issues are parking and rent. Since the introduction of the new parking system, people are becoming more and more reluctant to head to town because they would get summoned should they not use the new tickets. A lot of them are still not used to it, you can still see people getting fined everyday. Besides that, parking spaces are also limited, making it difficult. The business has swung to areas like Gadong and Kiulap over the years and of course it would, because parking is free and ample there. With more areas emerging, business becomes more saturated over time. There are so many places to choose from now, consumers are spoiled for choice.
And what about rent in the town centre, is it still expensive even with a lack of activity?
Yes, rental is still expensive. Last time I used to pay $12,000 (a month) but it slowly lowered to a bit more than $4,000 monthly.
That’s still quite expensive and I hope landlords in the Bandar area would consider reducing it because there are not many people who are willing to stay here and carry on with businesses. People are moving out fast. All these textile and medicine shops which have been around for more than 40 years have either moved away or closed down. There was a restaurant next to the old cinema which served ABC has recently stopped operating as well. As for me, it’s been more than 50 years and I might not even last one or two more years.
So business now is definitely more lacklustre as compared to before then?
Of course it is. Imagine 20 or 30 years ago during the 70′s and 80′s, in a day I could sell more than 80 whole cooked chickens, now I can barely sell 10. Business was really good last time as the economy was booming. Now I am struggling to break even on a monthly basis because of high costs incurred.
Another reason to factor in is the Kg Ayer population moving away to residential areas. So there are fewer people in town now, which means less business. Also, the market used to be here where a lot of people would come but Bandar is not the same as we used to know it. It’s not so busy anymore, and that’s obvious when you have banks moving out of the centre of the capital.
What do you think the government’s role can be here?
I think there needs to be more activities organised here like last time. Every week there was a different fun fair or event happening and that attracted people in. There needs to be an attraction factor for Bandar because for the younger generation, there is no reason for them to come here anymore. The times are changing and the town must change too. But this is not something the government can do alone, there needs to be some cooperation between the public and private sector. As mentioned, the rental has to change and that’s something private businessmen have to think about.
So after so long, how do you manage to keep surviving?
I’ve been one of the longest shops around and like I mentioned before, we are barely breaking even now. To survive, I keep thinking of new products to introduce, to keep up and change with the demand. My chef and I, we think of new food to offer. We can’t just rely on how things used to be and hope it will work, we have to be a bit innovative.
Have you ever thought about moving out like others have?
I have thought about it, but I’ve been here my whole life, it’s already been more than 50 years and loyal customers are familiar with me being here. If I move elsewhere, I don’t know if I still have the motivation to work as hard as I have been. It may be too late. The Brunei Times
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